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'People need the islands now more than ever': Gulf Islands National Seashore reopens to visitors.

Article Excerpt
The Gulf Islands National Seashore (GINS), a string of barriers islands stretching from Cat Island in western Mississippi to Santa Rosa Island in Florida, has long been one of the top tourist attractions in the region.

But during an 11-month period between September 2004 and September 2005, GINS experienced severe damages from four hurricanes and two tropical storms.

"That was a series of events unprecedented in history," said Gail Bishop, chief of interpretation and education at GINS. "The seashore lost its ability to provide services to the public that make GINS the most visited national seashore in the nation, and the ninth most visited of any national park. Visitation dropped from five million in 2003 to one million in 2005. A lot of that visitation drop was in our Florida District where Hurricane Ivan hit in September of 2004. We were going strong in Mississippi until Katrina."

In the nearly six months since Katrina, major efforts have been made to clean up the Mississippi islands that are popular destinations for fishing, swimming, beach combing, camping and nature watching. The pier and boardwalk at East Ship Island have been repaired, and that island reopened to the public February 2. Plans are for the Ship Island Ferry to resume service this spring, possibly on Easter weekend.

The historic Civil...

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